National School Counseling Week 2021

In just a few short days it will be my favorite week of the year, National School Counseling Week!  No, not School Counselor Week, but School Counseling Week.  This is not a week for appreciating your school counselor although, who doesn't love to be appreciated?!  This week is about advocating for the profession. So let's talk about the importance of advocacy and its far reaching impact!  

In my career I've had 9 principals and 14 assistant principals.  Four of those assistant principals have gone on to be principals, one became a curriculum superintendent, and one even became a school superintendent!  I like to think the example I set in creating and implementing my school counseling program influenced the way they have led their districts, their schools, and utilized the school counselors who came after me.  I like to think the no substitute, no master schedule responsibilities, no lunch duty, a counselor specific evaluation, and the freedom to counsel students are in some way related to our experiences together, examples I set, presentations I gave and conversations I had with those administrators over time.  Each of those twenty-three individual administrators I worked with have provided me with unique opportunities to share the purpose and benefit of the profession and to influence their thoughts and ideas about school counseling! Like a pebble dropped on the surface of a pond, the ripples created by the impact of that pebble keep moving outward. So, when each of these administrators moved to their next school and their next school counselor, I like to think I helped create a ripple effect of greater understanding of the profession that will continue to be beneficial for all the school counselors they will work with in the future. Be the pebble!

So even though you may be in a less than ideal situation with an administration that has no idea what school counselors really do, think about how you can begin to create a ripple. What can you do in your situation, no matter how small, to begin to educated and advocate for the profession with your administration?  What can you do to change their perception on who school counselors are and what they do?  How can you use National School Counseling Week to highlight what school counselors are really all about? Do you have a brochure, a website, data reports, or a presentation for faculty and staff?  Have you collected and shared your data or done the ASCA annual administrative conference with your administrators? People don't know what they don't know, and most administrators don't know school counselors. They base their ideas of school counselors on their personal experiences from when they were a student.  And some of our "Guidance Counselors" from the past did not leave such a good impression.  So, unless your administrator had the good fortune to know a true school counselor when they were in school, most are working from an outdated model of "guidance counselors."  National School Counseling Week is the perfect time to challenge that old stereo-type!

So Carpe Diem!  Seize the day, or in this case the week, of this golden opportunity to ignite an awareness where there may have been none. Create a ripple effect that will  keep moving into the future with your principal when they move to their next position. Through our advocacy we are educating our administrators and spreading our impact to other schools and to the benefit of the school counselors who will serve with them after us.

Materials for NSCW 2021

This year the American School Counselor Association has provided more than the usual free signs, daily announcements, proclamations, and certificates.  They are also offering daily webinars with topics relevant to school counselors. Check it all out here.

In the past, I have posted cute things you can make for your staff and students if your time and budget allow. Check out these links below or go to my Resources page for links to NSCW freebies.

Counselor Challenge Home
Counselor Challenge School
NSCW Bookmarks

NSCW 2021   PDF of candy card templates and poems

Celebrate yourself!

So try not to be upset when there is no counselor recognition.  It's okay. Remember, the purpose is to keep the focus on our profession and educate our administration, staff, students, parents and school board members what school counseling is really all about! And if you want to celebrate yourself or a school counselor friend, order take-out, actually take your lunch break, share some words of encouragement with another counselor, and celebrate each other and all the terrific things we do!

Happy National School Counseling Week!

Julia Cook Book Give-away: "Don't Be Afraid to Drop"

 

This is the perfect time for an updated version of Julia Cook's 2008 book,  Don't Be Afraid to Drop.

With the uncertain times our students and their families are still facing, it is helpful to have a story to share about change, facing our fears, and taking risks.

Julia Cook is re-releasing this timely story about Hopp the raindrop with new, softer illustrations by Anna Laura Sullivan.  

Hopp is too worried to drop.  It is something new and unfamiliar. This means change and he is afraid to leave the comfort of his home, family, and friends.  The cloud is his home and where he feels he belongs, "It's all I've ever known," he says.  Hopp talks about being nervous and scared and a tummy that's all in knots.  Our students will be able to relate to Hopp's feelings and many will be able to recall a time they felt the same way. I can imagine lots of different conversations where students are sharing their feelings about change and the ways they handled their fear and were successful.  There are so many great teachable moments here!

Hopp has lots of questions and "What ifs..." about dropping. But, with the encouragement of his father, Hopp learns  to let go.   

    "Don't  be afraid to drop to the ground.  Be brave and trust what I say.  If you don't take a risk, you'll never find out what great things might happen today."

This book has so many wonderful lessons for students, whether starting Kindergarten or transitioning to Middle School. It helps all of us to think about change and the rewards and growth that comes with taking risks.

Check out this Facebook video of Julia talking about the idea for this book, her own discomfort with making recordings, how she has gotten better, her "spring" comparison, and her reading of the book.

Julia Cook  Don't Be Afraid to Drop video on Facebook.

Two FREE Books

Thank you to the National Center for Youth Issues for donating 2 free copies of Don't Be Afraid to Drop for this give-away!  Please like/follow them @nationalcenterforyouthissues.  

To enter this give-away, leave a comment  below this blog post, on the Exploring School Counseling Facebook page, or the School Counselor Store Facebook page with a way you encourage students to take risks.  Winners will be selected at random and announced on Sunday, January 17 at midnight EST. The more places you comment, the more chances you have to win!  Check back here or on Facebook for winners.

Good Luck!!!

Congratulations to our book winners, Nicole Parker and Michelle Hopper Mawhiney!

Julia Cook Book Give-away: My Fantabulous Brain

I know if you are reading this, you love Julia Cook's books as much as I do.  So keep reading to learn more about her latest book and how you can enter to win one of 2 free copies provided by National Center for Youth Issues!

In this book, Julia Cook introduces readers to Wade, a character to whom many of our struggling students can relate.  How often have we heard from students about how hard it is to study, and the difficulties they have with concentration and recall?  Her latest book provides school counselors with ideas and some practical activities to help students who are facing these challenges. When students struggle with their school work and feel like nothing they do can produce success, their academic confidence and self esteem are hurt.

Our main character, Wade, has trouble studying and remembering and is ready to quit! But then he hears from his brain and learns how much more he is actually able to do.  With words of encouragement, tools from the "brain toolbox," and some "brain training" our character learns how to change can't to can and don't to do.  Wade goes from school failure to school success.  

At the end of the book, Julia provides some "brain training" exercises to help students get in some "brain sweat" as they learn to build their brain's capacity to grow and get stronger. Also included are links to free internet resources about brain training. What a great book to share in any of your school counseling program offerings, whether individually, in small group, or classroom counseling.  Even though I am now in middle school, I plan to use the ideas and resources in this book to improve the brain power of my students who have given up and think they are "stupid."

Two FREE Books
Thank you to the National Center for Youth Issues for donating 2 free copies of My Fantabulous Brain for this give-away!  Please like/follow them @nationalcenterforyouthissues.  

To enter this give-away, leave a comment  below this blog post, on the Exploring School Counseling Facebook page, or the School Counselor Store Facebook page with something positive that has happened at your school since our unusual start to the school year. Winners will be selected at random and announced on Tuesday, November 10 at midnight EST. The more places you comment, the more chances you have to win!  Check back here or on Facebook for winners.

Good Luck!!!

Julia Cook Book Give-away: I Have Ants in My Pants!

What could be better when heading back to school than free books by Julia Cook? Okay, definitely no pandemic, but unfortunately, I can't help you with that.  What I can do, is offer 2 free copies of Julia Cook's newest book, I Have Ants in My Pants! 

 If you know Julia Cook you know Louis from Personal Space Camp, My Mouth is a Volcano, and It's Hard to be a Verb.   Julia has teamed up again with illustrator Carrie Hartman to share the latest challenge faced by Louis. And if you know Louis, he has more than his fair share of challenges.  As elementary counselors, we all know kids like Louis.  This book will be another awesome addition to your school counselor library when looking for resources to help students like Louis.

Whether sitting in class, waiting in the lunch line, or at the movie theater, Louis can only sit still for so long! Then, it happens!  His toes start to wiggle, his knee needs to twitch and then his feet just have to kick, and inevitably another person is hurt or annoyed.  Louis's struggle to control his wiggles result in a number of adults asking him if he has ants in his pants which causes our very literal young character concern about whether he has real insects in his pants.

Luckily for Louis, he has a very understanding Mom who explains the expression, "ants in your pants"  and teaches him a special "Wiggle Dance." This dance helps Louis handle his wiggles, take control of the ants in his pants and even offer advice to other "antsy" friends.

The National Center for Youth Issues is offering a FREE digital copy of the I Have Ants in My Pants resource bundle to anyone who pre-orders a copy of the book and fills out the form on IHaveAntsInMyPants.com by August 26.

Two FREE Books
Thank you to the National Center for Youth Issues for donating 2 free copies for this give-away!  Leave a comment below, on the Exploring School Counseling Facebook page, or the School Counselor Store Facebook page describing something you do to help students with their wiggles. Winners will be selected at random and announced on  Sunday, August 23 at 11:00 pm ESDT. The more comments you share the more chances you have to win.  Check back here or on Facebook for winners.

Good Luck!!!

Unmasking Feelings about Counseling with Masks

This post is an account of a recent personal experience and my thoughts regarding such. Please understand this in no way supports any specific political view or personal agenda.  I simply wish to share my realizations and reflections. Take them or leave them, but first hear what I have to say and consider its implications and our need as counselors for a plan of action.

I have been a school counselor for many years.  I have worked at the elementary and middle school levels, supervised interns and taught at the university.  All this to say, I have adapted to many changes in my career and this is not my "first rodeo."  My "first rodeo" has been learning to navigate the world of distance counseling and I am meeting the challenge.  Now as we are being called to return to school, I am considering another "first," counseling with masks. Until recently, I had not given it much thought, but now that I have, I can't stop.

The Back Story
I recently applied for another job in my district.  Of course the interview was to be done virtually, and that was okay.  Like most of you, I've spent plenty of time conducting and attending virtual meetings during the last quarter of the school year.  However, when I logged into the meeting I was shocked to find everyone wearing masks.  The group of interviewers had decided to meet together so they could discuss each candidate afterwards.  There they were in the same room, each on their own computer, and wearing masks. Although it seemed odd, I didn't think much of it at first, but midway through the interview I begin to feel uncomfortable. That's when I when it hit me!  I couldn't read their faces or body language or hear their tone of voice.

When my husband asked me how the interview went I said it was strange. It's one thing to be wearing masks in person, but to be doing a virtual job interview and have all the interviewers in masks was a bit surreal. I realized I was unable to use my counseling skills to judge the intellectual and emotional responses of my interviewers as I answered their questions.  Their facial expressions and tone of voice were indiscernible with masks.  Their body language was partially obscured by camera placement and the conference table at which they were sitting. I was at a loss.  How were they responding to my answers?  Was I making a good impression?  Was I way off base with my understanding of their questions?  Were they understanding me?  Did I need to clarify?  Was I coming on too weak or too strong?  You never think about the thousands of little nuances you rely on in personal communication and the nano-second calculations and adjustments you make until you are unable to do so.  And then, I started thinking about my students.

It's about empathy.

For an hour, I was in the shoes my students will be in all day, everyday when school resumes.  If I struggled to interpret what masked adults were thinking and feeling with all my years of experience, skills, and training as a counselor, what is it going to be like for students? How many of them will miss the social cues we take for granted when we can clearly see the face of another and hear a voice undistorted?  How many will misunderstand and be misunderstood in the classroom? Many were already struggling with their communication skills pre-pandemic. 

As I reflected on my experience with the masked interviewers,  I couldn't help but think about how my own mask, and those worn by my students, will impact face to face counseling when we return to school.  As counselors we note the subtle changes in the face and a myriad of non-verbal behaviors to help direct our counseling sessions.  And although we will be able to see the eyes of our students and they will see ours, that is only one piece in the personal interaction puzzle.  Many of our students, especially those who are younger, or have been impacted by trauma, don't have enough knowledge or experience with interpreting emotions to take facial expressions piece meal and figure out what their classmates, teacher, or school counselor is communicating.  And what about the students new to our schools or our caseload?  Building trust and rapport is going to be more difficult when we cannot see the faces of others.

It's not just counseling with students that has me concerned.  It's about all of our students' masked interactions at school.  What is to become of the shy child who always has a downward glance or the soft-spoken child who is difficult to hear? Or the child struggling with peer relationships, self-regulation, anxiety, depression, bullying or the one who thinks the teacher doesn't like them?  How will this impact students' social interactions? How will teachers know who is understanding a lesson and who is struggling?  Faces provide all of us with a variety of cues about what others are thinking, feeling, and understanding.  Students are learning to use these cues to develop relationships with each other.  Counselors and teachers rely on these things to know when and how we need to intervene with our students. 

My Solutions

I don't claim to be an expert or to have an answer to the challenges we will face with masked communication.  I can only tell you what I am planning to do and request from my principal.

1) Order a clear face shield.  My district is still discussing mandating masks.  However, I will be wearing a mask because I have family members who would be compromised or could possibly die if they were to be exposed to Covid. I couldn't live with myself if I were responsible for such a thing.  I want my students to be able to see and read my face and know without a doubt how much I care for them so a clear face shield will be my choice.

2) Adjust my communication style to rely more on literal language and less on facial expressions and tone of voice. With the mandate of masks, come limitations in the reliability of our communications. It will be essential to be more intentional in checking for understanding.

3) Ask to train faculty members, students, and parents to understand the level of communication lost with masks.  Include training on paying attention to non-verbal behavior such as body language, gestures, and posture. Consider how the essence of  a joke or sarcasm used in the classroom can be lost or misinterpreted without the accompanying facial expressions and tone of voice.

Have any of you had this same concern about counseling with masks?  What worries you the most?  Please share your ideas and comments below. Let's problem solve this together!

15 minute Counseling Techniques that Work: What you didn't learn in Grad school Book Give Away

When I was in grad school we spent a lot of time learning about the foundations of school counseling, the theories of individual and group counseling, data, and college and career readiness. There were not a lot of  hands-on tips and tools for individual sessions in those academic classes.  It wasn't until I'd spent a few years in the field myself, that I became acquainted with many of the simple, yet effective techniques Allison Edwards discusses in her new book, 15-minute Counseling Techniques that Work: What you Didn't Learn in Grad School.

This book includes techniques useful for students of all ages Kindergarten through the12th grade. It provides the school counselor with strategies to teach students so they feel empowered to meet their challenges and stresses outside the safety of the counseling office.  Change the Channel, All Tangled up, Give Your Feeling a Name, and Structure the Unstructured are just a few of the techniques shared,  along with step by step instructions and materials.

Allison has taken Dollar Store items like yarn, markers, paper plates, scissors, note cards, and play-dough and used them to build a toolbox of techniques school counselors will reach for again and again.  With practical, hands-on activities that don't take a lot of time or money, Allison helps school counselors take students of all levels back to the basics and gets them in touch with what they are thinking and feeling. Often students leave with a physical reminder, whether a note card or a pinch pot, of a specific strategy to continue practicing at school or at home.

Allison Edwards shares about her new book.

Two FREE Books
Thank you to the National Center for Youth Issues for donating 2 free copies of  15 minute Counseling Techniques That Work: What you didn't learn in Grad School for this give-away!  Leave a comment about one of your favorite counseling techniques in the section below this post, on the Exploring School Counseling Facebook page, or the School Counselor Store Facebook page.  The more places you make comments, the more chances you have to win.  Two winners will be selected at random and announced on Wednesday, May 27 at 11:00 pm EDT.  Check back here or the Facebook pages for winners.

Good Luck!!!

There's No Dream Too Tall Book Give-away

There's No Dream Too Tall is a perfect book for Career week, goal-setting lessons, or graduation.  It's great for encouraging children or young people to pursue their dreams. So often as parents, educators, counselors, or mentors we are able to easily see the strengths of the young people with whom we work.  Sometimes, though, our suggestions about a career path can seem more like mandates and influence a child or teen away from following their passion.  I often think of my nephew at 6 feet 6 inches with some great basketball skills who hated a sport everyone told him he was so good at playing.  He just wanted to design video games.  Yet because of our well-intentioned and good natured encouragement to play basketball, he didn't feel comfortable telling us about his real dream.

As supporters and encouragers, we have to help our students discover their passions and their gifts and provide opportunities to see how those passions fit into different career paths.  Author Amie Dean, assisted by illustrator Sian James, doesn't just show a variety of familiar careers, but mentions some of the personal qualities and characteristics of those individuals. This important difference allows readers to perhaps think outside the box and see themself in a career they may not have previously considered.

Although the careers in the book are pretty traditional careers familiar to kids, the message is different.  Amie Dean tells her readers there is no right path, you will make mistakes, but it's all about making the world better by using your gifts and your dreams.

 As someone who didn't have a clue what I wanted to be when I grew up, and everyone else did, I wish I had been given a book like this.  I loved the last page of the story, "And if you don't have a dream yet, that's quite alright, too.  Just believe in yourself and your dream will find YOU!"

Listen as Amie Dean talks about her reasons for writing, There's No Dream Too Tall.

Two FREE Books
Thank you to the National Center for Youth Issues for donating 2 free copies of  There's No Dream Too Tall for this give-away!  Leave a comment about what you were passionate about as a kid in the section below this post, on the Exploring School Counseling Facebook page, or the School Counselor Store Facebook page.  The more places you make comments, the more chances you have to win.  Two winners will be selected at random and announced on  Monday, May 11 at 11:00 pm EDT.  Check back here or the Facebook pages for winners.

Good Luck!!!